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Impact Act Making a Big Impact

February 26, 2015

New law includes provisions to create increased transparency within the hospice community

The newly adopted “IMPACT Act" (Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act) includes provisions creating greater oversight and increased transparency within the hospice community. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization heralds the passage of this legislation and the additional oversight it will bring to end-of-life care providers.

The provisions that affect hospice providers are:

Mandated surveys of Medicare certified hospice providers at least every three years for the next ten years at the minimum.

Medical reviews for hospice programs with a soon to be determined percentage/number of patients receiving care for more than 180 days. The specific patient load that would trigger this medical review will be set by CMS.

Hospice aggregate financial cap will be aligned with hospice reimbursement using a common inflationary index that will not change hospice reimbursement for providers.